Angeles Analysis – Game 3

Punch. Counterpunch.

It is the nature of the playoffs.

Take one. Give one.

It’s certainly how the first two games of this see-saw playoff series between the Los Angeles Kings and the Edmonton Oilers went through the first two games in Edmonton.

As it turned out the Kings took a good, solid shot to the jaw in Game 3 Friday night at Crypto.com Arena to start their home portion of the 2024 playoffs.

What remains to be seen now, in the wake of a 6-1 defeat in Game 3, is the Kings’ response to the roundhouse, now that they trail this best-of-seven 2-1.

“It’s the same thing I said, people were talking after the last game, and I said what I know for sure is it’s one game to one, so no different tonight,” Head Coach Jim Hiller said. “What I know for sure is it’s two for them, one for us and you need to win four in a series so. We’ll have a similar approach. We’ll get back and we’ll have to play better than we did tonight that’s the bottom line just like Game 2.”

What is obvious through the first three games of this series is that if the Kings are not at their best, if they don’t start with purpose and play their stifling style of hockey and deliver on their scoring chances, they are going to be in tough against the Oilers.

There is a roadmap to evening this series on Sunday and it’s pretty easy to follow.

In each of Games 1 and 3 the Oilers have been the more opportunistic team early in the game. They scored twice in the first period of Game 1 and took a 4-0 lead before the mid-point of the second period en route to a 7-4 win. Friday, they took a 3-0 lead into the locker room after the first period.

In Game 2, won 5-4 in dramatic fashion by Anze Kopitar early in overtime, the Kings led 3-1 through one period and they never trailed in the game.

In Games 1 and 3 the Kings were victimized by the Edmonton power play a total of six times, three in each game.

In Game 2 the Oilers scored once on the man advantage but the Kings generally kept the Oilers’ big guns at bay.

So, we have identified the obvious.

What stands now as the challenge is to find the mental fortitude to park what was an error-filled game that provided little opportunity for the Kings impose their will on the Oilers and start fresh on Sunday night.

They did so in responding after Game 1. Will it be any different after a lopsided loss at home where the Kings were the best team in the NHL after the All Star break?

Not according to defenseman Matt Roy.

“I think our team has a lot of character,” Roy said. “Like I said it’s 2-1, we’re still in this series, we’re not out of it and no one’s going to quit in here.”

Is it harder to bounce back after a game like this at home? Only if a team believes it will be harder.

“I mean I think our effort was there, I don’t think it’s a lack of that,” Roy said. “Obviously the game didn’t go the way we wanted it to, but it’s 2-1 in the series. Could have lost 10-1, doesn’t matter. It’s 2-1. We’re just going to bounce back and get ready to go.”

Roy is right, of course.

No matter how disappointing it is to lose at home 6-1 there is no extra credit awarded the Oilers for the disparity in score.

The reset button gets hit as it always does by the team that loses a game in the playoffs and the judgment begins anew in the next game.

For the Kings, though, there’s work to be done in reproducing an effort like was seen in Game 2 in Edmonton.

First, there has to be a better start to the proceedings Sunday.

“I don’t know, from the beginning it feels like we were not there,” said forward Kevin Fiala. “I think they were more hungry, had more chances. So we just have to be ready.”

Hiller is in agreement.

“The first part of the game, yeah, we’ve got some issues there,” Hiller said. “They were above us, we didn’t get it deep, they came back the other way. It’s a pretty simple formula.”

The coach was asked about specific players and their play in the first period but Hiller spoke about the group as a whole.

“We go as a team, we weren’t good enough in the first period that was a collective by all of us coaches included and we’ll have to be better next game,” he summized.

There was a glimpse, however brief, of what was apparent throughout Game 2 during the second period of Game 3.

The Kings played the second period with more bite. They tracked down pucks in the offensive zone. They forced turnovers in the neutral zone and countered with pressure.

It yielded their only goal, a wonderful pass from Quinton Byfield to Drew Doughty sneaking in from the right point to make the score 3-1 at 5:32 of the middle frame.

But 2:07 later a dagger in the form of an Evander Kane tip off a Cody Ceci blast from the point made it 4-1 and that was that.

“Actually we came around in the second period a little bit until they scored the fourth goal,” Hiller said. “That was one that really sunk us I would say at that point because we did have some momentum coming back.”

Fiala agreed that there were signs of life from the team in the second period and remained steadfast that this team will respond.

“We got better obviously the second period,” Fiala said. “We had that goal but they scored right after so kill us a little bit. Right now 2-1 we have to think positive. Obviously we have to look at some things, we have to get better and we will. So, we have to get second game that’s it.”

There were other moments, other opportunities, to change the path this game might have taken.

The Kings power play continued its series-long struggles on Friday including two missed opportunities in the first period, one before the first Edmonton goal and one not long after.

A goal in either situation, or of course in both situations, and the game’s axis may have been shifted.

Both opportunities went for naught though and the Kings are 0-for-10 in the series with the man advantage. Edmonton is 7-for-14.

Hiller thought there was better puck movement on the early power play opportunities but he acknowledged they badly needed a goal.

“Those were big opportunities for us to get ourselves back and we didn’t take advantage,” he said.

Fiala, who has one goal in the series, is a big part of the power play for the Kings. He led the team with 11 man-advantage markers during the regular season.

He remains confident that the unit will produce. More on that to come.

Game 3 devolved into a bit of chaos in the third period with multiple misconducts. There was a fight and lots of post-whistle shenanigans.

Hiller was asked if he thought his team lost their composure.

“I saw some emotion,” Hiller said. “You could say did you channel it the right way? I saw some players that were pissed off with the result, with where we were at in the game. And they didn’t want to go away quietly. So I got no issue with that part.”

Punch. Counterpunch. Punch.

The next move belongs to the Los Angeles Kings.